Can we see "iron pillar" Kim Min-jae (28, Bayern Munich) working with "iron wall" Virgil van Dijk (33, Liverpool) from the new season? Liverpool, which is seeking to strengthen its center back, has been spotted trying to recruit Kim Min-jae. With Bayern Munich interested in recruiting Cody Hakpo (26, Liverpool), Kim Min-jae is likely to go to Liverpool as he plans to negotiate with Kim Min-jae as a "trade card."
Liverpool Echo, which specializes in Liverpool news, cited British media outlet Kurt Offside on the 7th (Korea time) and said, "Liverpool is considering recruiting Kim Min-jae," adding, "There is growing public opinion that Kim Min-jae will leave Bayern Munich this summer, and Bayern Munich has lowered Kim Min-jae's transfer fee from 50 million euros (about 77.6 billion won) to 35 million euros (about 54.3 billion won). Liverpool is showing interest in this."스포츠토토
Currently, Liverpool has a built-in center back duo that leads to Van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate, but there are no clear options other than them, so it is a great deal of trouble. In fact, Joe Gomez, who has already entered his 10th year, has not been of much help due to frequent injuries, and Jarrell Kwan, who had been expected to be a promising player, has been slow to grow and is not at the level of playing for Liverpool.
In response, Liverpool is seeking to recruit a new center back this summer. Initially, the top candidate was Dean Ha-seon, but the team was lagging behind Real Madrid in its bid to recruit him. Liverpool had to stop recruiting Pierrot Incapier because Bayer Leverkusen is demanding more than 60 million euros (93.1 billion won) as transfer fee. Meanwhile, Bayern Munich have recently shown interest in Kim Min-jae, who is seeking to sell the team by lowering the transfer fee to 35 million euros.
In fact, this is not the first time Liverpool has shown interest in Kim Min-jae. Liverpool sought to recruit Kim two years ago when Kim was considered the best center back in Italy's Serie A while playing for Napoli. At the time, the club attempted to recruit Kim by invoking a 50-million-euro buyout clause that was included in Kim's contract. However, as Kim chose to go to Bayern Munich, Liverpool lost Kim Min-jae.
Chances are high that Kim will leave this summer as he is classified as a "release target." Bayern Munich reportedly already gave Kim a "separation notice" saying he can leave. Notably, the transfer fee for Kim, which was originally set at 50 million euros, was lowered to 35 million euros. The fact that the transfer fee was lowered even at the risk of failing to recover the principal at the time of recruitment can be interpreted as a sign that Kim is determined to sell the money.
Furthermore, Bayern Munich have already prepared for the sale of Kim Min-jae by recruiting Jonatantha, who became a free agent after declining to renew his contract with Bayer Leverkusen on April 29. Bayern Munich, which has been strongly interested in Ta and Dayo Upamecano since last year, is expected to use Ta and Dayo Upamecano as its main center back in the new season. Kim Min-jae was excluded from the plan.
When Bayern Munich announced that it would sell Kim Min-jae, Newcastle United, Chelsea, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and other clubs in need of reinforcement of center backs showed specific interest. And Liverpool added Kim Min-jae to the recruitment list. However, negotiations have not yet taken place because Kim Min-jae is currently focusing on recovering from an ankle cyst (a flood) in addition to left Achilles tendon inflammation.
Some argue that Bayern Munich, which originally wanted to recruit Florian Birtz this summer, but whose plan was broken when Birtz chose to go to Liverpool, may propose a trade method to Liverpool to put Kim Min-jae on the transfer fee to recruit the student. With the transfer fee expected to be at least 70 million euros (about 108.6 billion won), Bayern Munich plans to include Kim Min-jae in 35 million euros to complete the deal.
Kim Min-jae has been active for two years since his professional debut at Jeonbuk Hyundai since 2017, before moving to Fenerbahce in 2021 after passing through Beijing Guoan. He wore a Neapolitan uniform the following year after growing faster over time. Kim Min-jae, who moved to Naples, immediately established himself as a core and showed off his defense like a "monster" against prominent strikers.
Kim Min-jae, who took the lead in Napoli's rise to the top in 33 years with outstanding performances, was also honored with the Italian Serie A Best Defender Award and the Best Eleven at the same time. This was a "record" of being the first Asian winner and the first winner from the winning team. In addition, he was nominated for the Ballon d'Or, the world's most prestigious football player for the first time in his life, and ranked 22nd out of 30 players, receiving recognition for his outstanding performance.
Kim Min-jae later received a series of love calls and wore a Bayern Munich uniform in 2023. He became the 21st "Korean Bundesliga" in history and played as a mainstay at Bayern Munich, which is called the "world's strongest." He played as a built-in player throughout the first half of the first season and was pushed to the bench in the second half, but in the second season, he played in almost all games to the point of "controversy over his mistakes," and even in the aftermath of his injury, he showed his fighting spirit to win the German Bundesliga.